WESTBOROUGH, MA- New England juniors made their presence felt at the most recent L2 National Selection Tournaments throughout the country. The section brought home four singles and doubles titles from February 13-15 and featured many more notable performers. Overall, 27 players competed throughout 15 tournaments nationally.  

 

Albert Ilie, of Stratford, CT, captured the lone singles championship for New England. Fresh off a New England Winter Singles Sectionals championship in January, Ilie kept his momentum rolling in Port Chester, NY, finishing atop the 32-player draw in the Boys’ 14s division.

 

Ilie, the No. 2 ranked player in New England, saw himself unseeded in the tournament but knocked off both the No. 2 and No. 4 seeds en route to the title. He defeated the second-seeded Evan Wen, of Morristown, NJ, 7-5, 2-6, 6-1 in the finals.

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New England also boasted three doubles champions from the weekend.

 

Alex Finkelstein, of Raynham, MA and Nathan Mao, of Topsham, ME completed the Boys’ 14s sweep in Port Chester, taking home the doubles crown. The fourth-seeded pair outlasted top seeds Sam Feldman (Brookline, MA) and Jacob Lowen (Boca Raton, FL), 6-4, in the semifinals before cruising to a 6-2 finals victory.

 

The No. 3 seeded team of Connor Fu (Andover, MA) and Nicholas Condos (Wilton, CT) ran through the Boys’ 16s doubles field in Glen Cove, NY. They capped off their successful tournament by defeating the duo of Jeffrey Fradkin and Eliot Spizzirri from USTA Eastern in the finals, 8-4.

 

Fu also reached the finals in the Boys’ 16s singles at the No. 4 seed. He defeated the No. 5 and No. 6 seeds before falling to No. 8 seed Evin McDonald, of Bethesda, Maryland, 2-6, 6-7.

 

In Erie, PA, Caroline Dunleavy (Darien, CT) and partner Sophia Graver (Allenwood, NJ) ran into a couple hiccups, but went on to win the Girls’ 18s title. The No. 2 seeded duo won two matches each by a score of 7-6, including in the finals against the Virginia tandem of Nicole Hammond and Natasha Subhash.

 

Dunleavy also reached the quarterfinals in Girls’ 18s singles.

 

Will Peters, of Duxbury, MA, finished third overall in the Boys’ 18s in Glen Cove, while, Samantha Svendsen, Nathan Mao, Ryan Fu and Mark Sverdlov all reached the quarterfinals in their respective singles tournaments.

 

Harris Foulkes (Boys’ 18s) and Teddy Truwit (Boys’ 14s) each individually reached the semifinals in their doubles tournaments.

 

Juniors have the opportunity to compete in five different individual L2 National Tournaments throughout the year as well as five L1 National Championships.

 

National tournaments count for both New England and National junior standing points.